QCE English External Assessment (EA) quiz

A persuasive piece written across several weeks

A centrally set and marked exam in Unit 4 where you analyse unseen texts under exam conditions

An oral presentation

A take-home essay

1 hour

2 hours plus 15 minutes of perusal time

3 hours

30 minutes

Write your response

Read the texts and the task, plan mentally, but not write

Talk to other students

Leave the exam room

10 percent

25 percent (the other 75 percent comes from the three internal assessments)

50 percent

75 percent

Two unrelated texts

Two texts (often one fiction and one non-fiction or visual) that engage with related ideas or perspectives

Two persuasive op-eds on the same topic

Two short stories

0 minutes; start writing immediately

Around 10 minutes after perusal ends

30 minutes

1 hour

Specific identification of textual features (not generic 'the text uses language') and sustained analysis of what those features produce in the reader

Showing emotion about the texts

Listing every technique you can spot

Using complex vocabulary

Markers ignore the misreading

Your response may not address what is being asked, which will affect your mark even if your analysis is otherwise strong

You can revise during reading time

Misreading is not possible

Memorise quotes from common literary texts

Practise close reading of unseen texts under time pressure, including 3 to 5 full 2-hour 15-minute simulations on past QCAA papers

Read every text on the school's reading list

Avoid practice and trust your skills

Spend more time on the longer text

Analyse both in roughly equal depth, with similar quote counts and analytical attention

Focus on the fiction text and skim the non-fiction

Pick the one you find more interesting